Defiance
by Fumei-824
Summary: A collection of drabbles and oneshots about facing up to the challenges in life and defying the odds. Ch. Three, ﻿In Konoha there were many rocks, both remarkable and utterly unremarkable.
1. Birthday

A young dark haired girl walked down a darkened muddy path her short hair bouncing along as she hummed quietly. A soft rain pattered down beside her while the large grey umbrella she held created a dry patch where she stepped. For all the grey skies and black clad citizens that passed her by, the young girl was actually quiet happy. Today she had been excused from training. She didn't quite grasp the reason why, just that it was a sad day.

All ways sensitive to the emotions of others around her the young girl stopped walking and stood silently turning her head to the side. She had heard some thing, there it was again. What was that, could it have been a sniffle?

Yes, she decided it was another person who was crying. Not an unusual circumstance for this day it seemed, yet the girl was compelled to turn the corner and walk down the alley that the sob had come from. In the shadows a small person stiffened and jumped up. Quickly the shadow-person rubbed an arm over it's eyes and took a step forward.

The sheltered girl offered the person, who turned out to be a blonde boy about her age, her umbrella. He seemed to be about to take it when he realized she was quickly getting wet. He shoved it back over her head and balled his small hands into fists.

"Why are you crying?" the girl asked thinking that the boy might know the reason others were crying as well.

"Because it's my birthday."

"Happy Birthday."

Smiling the girl offered the boy her umbrella again, and again he refused it. Frowning she huddled under it.

"Don't you want to be dry?"

"I don't deserve it."

"Why not?" She moved closer to him cutting off the flow of rain that already soaked him. Her dark hair tickled his cheek and he thought before answering.

"I don't deserve to be dry because it's all my fault." He looked at her deep blue eyes locked on her own silvery ones and tears spilled over her cheeks.

"I'm sorry but could you explain it to me. Why it's all your fault? I have a long walk to get home and I'll be happy to listen to you." She smiled again and the two began to walk.

As soon as they re-entered the main path older citizens glared down at the two and they were forced to walk in the mud on the side of the path. Apologizing the boy steered the girl to another alley way. His bright orange outfit seemed incredibly out of place among the sea of black they had been in but the girl was pleased at the warmth it brought on this dull day.

"I was born today, that's why every one's crying." He began, "I don't know why exactly but it's my fault and no one listens when I say I'm sorry. You believe me though right? You know I didn't mean to do any thing bad." He turned almost pleading with her.

"I believe you." she murmured softly but with conviction.

He smiled and gave her a thumbs up. His mood swing seemed to stay for when they reached her house and she told him to keep the umbrella to get home he refused claiming to have some thing else to do.

"I'll see you around!" He called waving good bye, she waved back and hurried inside to become warm again.

Later in the day shouts of anger could be heard as a small orange blur ran through the village waving a bright white flag that read,

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Even though only one person had ever said that to him in his life.

**Aww. That was sad...I wonder if it should be put down as angst?**

**-Fumei**


	2. Hair

Haruno Sakura hated her hair. It was that simple.

Sure, once upon a time she had liked her pink locks, treasured and flaunted them even. But as she grew older and was sent on increasingly harder missions she realized something. Her hair was just too obvious. She couldn't even begin to count the number of times her hair had been noticed by the enemy and blown her cover. Not to mention all the unwanted attention that her traitorous hair coupled with her sea-green eyes had caused her.

Her solution? Cropped hair hidden under her forehead protector served quite nicely under most conditions. Then again it had a tendency to fly off if she moved too quickly and then Sakura was back to square one.

So now Sakura stood in a tiny dingy shop with a bottle of brown hair dye, that would most likely turn her hair a strange grey black, clutched in her hand. Staring at it she really, really wanted to chuck it at some one's head. She almost couldn't believe that she, once proud and strong, was going to dye her hair to escape being noticed.

What had happened to the fiercely determined girl she had once been? Sakura wasn't as determined to prove her worth as Naruto, she wasn't as strong as Sasuke, wasn't as brave as Hinata, but she most definitely wasn't the timid girl who let others fight her battle's that she had once been. No she could, she _had_, faced up to much more challenging things than her own hair.

Scowling she slammed the bottle of dye down onto the counter and whipped the forehead protector off, to reveal her short bubble gum pink hair. She lifted her head and cracked her knuckles. Head held high and knuckles cracked Sakura walked out of the shop.

The first person to comment on her hair was going to spend the night in the hospital.

**So as you can see I've decided to make this a collection of drabbles and one-shots.** **Hope you liked this one, I did(which is a good thing considering I'm the one who wrote it...). Please review! Oh and the part about Hinata being brave...well she fought Neji during the Chuunin exams and she was really afraid of him then.  
**

**-Fumei**


	3. The Rock

In Konoha there were many rocks, both remarkable and utterly unremarkable. Of the remarkable variety many were large, oddly colored, or specifically shaped. Possibly the most remarkable (or second after the Hokage monument) of rocks was none of these.

A medium sized boulder of blue-black color was not an unusual sight in Konoha. What made this such boulder so remarkable was not the color, size, shape, or even location (although that did help...) of the rock.

It was the writing.

Hundreds of names adorned the rock, names of those who never know, could never know, that their name was even there.

Along with the many names came many visitors. Parents cursing the day they let their children become ninja, shinobi mourning a fallen comrade, lovers wishing it was their name on the rock instead, and children asking when mommy and daddy would be home. The rock had bore witness to all of these visitors many, many times.

The rock had been spoken to, yelled at, wept upon, stared at, and on occasion beaten. Still it stood if not proudly at least tall. For the rock did not stand for the things it was said to stand for. It was not there to honor the fallen and missing, it was not there to provide comfort to those who could not visit a grave stone, and it was not there for young ninja to dream of the day their name would be proudly placed on it.

It stood for the cold hard facts.

That one day all shinobi young, old, brave, weak, or just plain unlucky would find their memory carved upon the rock. Just another name that only meant some thing to a select few people, and nothing to many others.

**OMG I can't believe i just wrote that. It was so sad... Please review if your not crying, or even if you are. And if it isn't as sad as I think it is I'd like to know as well.**

**-Fumei**


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